Expanded-metal manufacture.



N. E. CLARK. EXPANDED METAL MANUFACTURE.

I APPLICATION FILED AUG.25,1905- I 1,14,;1 17 Patented May 18, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

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N. E. CLARK. EXPANDED METAL MANUFACTURE.

APPHCA IION FILED AUG.25| 1906.

Patented May 18, 1915.

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NORRIS ELIVIORE CLARK, F PLAINVILLE, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGN OR TO THE NATIONAL METAL FABRIC COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

EXPANDED-METAL MANUFACTURE.

To allwhom it may concern: 1

Be it known that I, N onnrs ELMORE CLARK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Plainville, Hartford county, Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Im provements in Expanded- Metal Manufacture, of Which the following is a full, clear,

, and exact description.

secutively expand and Wind or roll up the expanded product by the same instrumentality.

Another object is to slit and expand the metal by different instrumentalities.

Another object is to readily release the coil of expanded metal.

Different forms of mechanism are illustrate'd diagrammatically in the accompanying two sheets of drawings for carrying out my invention. Figure l is a sectional new of a table and end view of two drums for carrying out one method of expansion. Fig. 2 is a similar view, but showing the drums diagrammatically only, for carrying the method into effect in slightly modified form. Fig. 3 similar view but showing a pair of rolls for retarding the metal. Fig. 4 is a similar-view showing a plurality of friction retarding members. Fig. 5 is a side view of means for feeding, slitting and expanding consecutively. Fig. 6 is a plain view of the same, the slitting tools being, however, omitted. Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic side view of mechanism for slitting and then expanding according to the method of Fig. 1. Fig. 8 is a similar view for slitting and then expanding acc'rording to the method of Fig. 3.

Each of the ewansire mechanisms illustrated is adapted to operate upon sheets or strips of stock which have been lanced or slitted transversely of the direction of feed. The slitting of the, stock 1 may be effected by suitable punches, other tools, 2-2, indicated diagrannnatically in Fig. 5, or such as 2'-2 in Figs. 7 and 8, the feed of the Specification of Letters Patent. 7 Patented lflfay 18,1915. Application filed August 25, 1906. Serial No. 331,981. V

stock before slitting being controlled bv rolls 33, and, if desired, the feed after.

,port, such as 5, may be used when the stock requires handling, from whence it is fed to the expanding mechanism.

.The slitted stock 6 in the method of operation shown in Fig.- l is first Wound on to a drum or cylinder such as 7, the front end of the slitted stock being detachably secured to the drum by suitable means, for instance a key 8, the drum being turned in a direc-- tion opposite to the direction of the arrow. The rear end of the stock is then brought forward and detachably secured to drum or cylinder 9, for instance by a suitable key 10. Drum 9 is then rotated. in the direction of the arrow, and the drum 7 also rotated in the direction of its arrow but at a peripheral speed considerably less than the peripheral speed of drum 9, the two drums for this purpose being preferably. geared together, or driven from the same source, so that there shall be a positive difference in peripheral speeds. As a result, the strands of the slittedstock (3 aresepara-ted from each other so as to form meshes, the degree or extent of expansion depending upon the dil'l'erence in peripheral speeds of the drums. Practically the entire expansion takes place in that part of the metal which lies between the points of its tangency with the two drums. In order that the expansion throughout the entire length of a strip (es pecially if the strip is of any considerable length) shall be uniform, the angular speed of the expansion drum 9 should gradually decrease, as the winding and expansion, takes place, and the angular speed of the retardation drum 7 gradually increase, so that the actual linear speed of the outside layer on drum 9 shall remain constant, and the actual linear speed of the outside layer of the stock on drum 7 remain constant. For short strips, however, and a material not requiring great uniformity, such changes in angular velocity are not necessary.

lVhen the expansion is complete, what is now the rear end of the slitted stock is re leased from drum 7 and Wrapped around the coil on drum 9 and secured in place. Since the coiling of the expanded material upon drum 9 is accomplished under considerable pressure, either the coil should be loosened up in order to remove it from the drum, or the drum should be contracted. I prefer to accomplish the removal of thecoil by contracting the drum, since this results in a more uniform and regular coil. For this purpose, the drum surface is preferably made up of a series of segments, as shown in Fig. 1, and each segment has a pin 11 projecting into a slot 12 in the ring 13. Rotation of the ring 13 draws all the segments toward the axis ofthe drum and thus reduces its diameter sufliciently to permit of the ready removal of the coil.

In the form of mechanism shown in Fig. 2, the stock is wound upon the retardation drum 7 in the direction the reverse of that in Fig. 1. The action of expansion is, however, substantially the same. The use of this mechanism, however, has the disadvan- 'tage of requiring a greater space between the points of tangency of the stock, or else a reduction in the diameter of the drums, which is not desirable.

In Fig. 3, the retardation of the stock is effected by engagement of the rolls 1l14, whose peripheral speed is less than the peripheral speed of expansion drum 9. With this form of mechanism to produce an absolutely uniform product it is simply necessary to decrease the angular velocity of drum 9 as the coil is wound up, or increase the angular 'elocity of the retardation rolls l4--14l.

In Fig. at, the drum 9 is driven as before, but the retardation is effected by means of friction entirely. Rolls 1515 areprovided simply for the purpose of steadying the slitted stock, which is fed over the curved surface of the abutment 16, thence under abutment 1?, over abutment 18, under abutment 19 and over abutment 20. The surface engagement of the stock by abutment 17 is greater than that of abutment 16, and similarly the frictional engagement of abutment 18 is greater than that of abutment 17. The engagement of abutment 19 is slightly less than abutment 18, but greater than abutmeat 17. This gradual increase in frictional engagement causes a gradually increasing.

retardation and consequently the expansion takes place gradually throughout a considerable length of the stock. Guides or shields 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25 are provided to assist in starting the m tal, and a roller 26 steadies' site frictional retardation action of their surfaces.

In the mechanism of Figs. 5 and 6, retardation is effected by the rolls 3-3, while the expansion takes place intermittently by the action of the expansion drum aften-each stroke of the slitting tool. This requires but ore handling of the stock.

In Fig. 7 is illustrated mechanism for feeding, slitting, rolling and expanding by separate operations such as would be used with the expansion and retardation mechanism of Figs. 1 and 2.

In F ig,-8 the slitting is accomplished as in Fig. 7,btnt intermediate handling is eliminatcd, the slitted stock passing direct to the expansion drum, retardation being effected by rolls 4.-l similar to the method of Fig. 3. A partial preliminary expansion may be produced by giving rolls 4:t a peripheral velocity slightly greater than the feed of rolls 33. The intermittent action of the expansion drums may be accomplished in any suitable manner.

The operation of my improved method of expansion produces material which is more or less flat, as set forth in my Patent No. 767,798, dated August 16, 1904. It is possible, however, by this method to produce more or less irregular stock by suitably increasing the rate of expansion or decreasing the diameter of the ceiling drum. Lubrication ofthe slitted stock facilitates uniform expansion action. Omission of rolls such as fir-4 between the slitting and expansion operations also tends to result in the production of more or lessirregular product. In each case, however, the material when expanded is all ready for shipment in compact form.

In speaking of transverse slitting it does not mean that the slits must extend exactly at right angles to the line of feed but that the slitting is in such a direction and arrangement that the stock may be stretched or expanded forwardly substantially as herein set forth. By slitting in its broad sense I mean any treatment of the metal which outlines or defines a series of strands connected at intervals whether the metal is punched out or entirely severed or not.

The use of a drum or similar device for 11:;

drawing out the forward portion of the transversely slitted sheet avoids the use of expensive drawing rolls and alsoleaves the strands free to turn on edge since there is no pressure on the upper surface of the sheet. This coiling or Winding action also provides a tension which is uniform across the entiresheet-so that the stretching or expanding action is positively uniform.

What I claim is:

1.- The improvement in the art of forming expanded metal which consists in retarding the feed of a transversely slitted sheet and in advance thereof applying tension at one face only of the sheet whereby, the forward 1.:

part of the sheet is fed at a greater rate than the retarded portion of the sheet and the slitted sheet is opened into meshwork.

2. The improvement in the art of forming expanded metal which consists in retarding the feed of a transversely slitted sheet and in ndvmu-e thereof applying a uniform positintunsion across the entire sheet at one face only of the sheet whereby the forward partof the sheet is fed a greater rate 10 than the retarded portion of the sheet and the slitted sheet is opened into meshwork.

- NORRIS ELMOBE CLARK.

Witnesses:

D. GJCLARK, A. V. .BnocK. 

